Living a Nightmare

Chapter 11

"Get in there!"

These were the words Albert heard before being thrown into a filthy cell within the walls of Helena Prison. The young king was exhausted and in pain. He wanted to reach around and touch his back, but he was afraid to. The young man could feel the never ending pain course through his back and the trickling of blood run across his once perfect, pale skin.

Ever since the king of Serdio had arrived at Helena prison, he was deprived of sleep, beaten every other hour, and was given very little food and water. Even though he was battered and beaten physically, his psyche still hanging on, but barely. He wasn't going to allow the Sandorans to break him in mentally, not that easily to say the least.

Albert dragged himself to the old tattered bed that was placed in the furthest corner of the room. Because he was so weak from exhaustion, Albert was forced to shuffle his way to the bed. He accidentally kicked what seemed to be a skull across the floor, but he didn't pay it any attention and instead threw himself onto the bed. The young King coughed as dust and the smell of death rose from the aged sheets. This cell have seen its fair share of visitors. The bed smelled of death, the room smelled of death, and even the entire building smelled of death. "So...this...is what prisoners...had to deal with." Albert muttered in short breaths. He turned his head towards the wall and began to gaze at the dingy bricks that made up the room.

Soon, a shrill, high pitched scream filled the hallways. Albert got up and moved towards the door and stood on the ends of his feet to peer through the opening that allowed him to watch everything that was going on outside. He saw a young man being subdued through beatings. One can assume that he tried to escape or attack one of the guards and this was his punishment for doing so. Either way, Albert refused to continue to watch any more of this torture. It made his heart wrench in agony just knowing one of his people was being mistreated in such a way. "For my people...As long as they're safe, I can reside here with my mind in peace." he muttered to himself.

Albert's wounds were painful. No matter how he lay, they stung greatly. The young king couldn't do much but count the bricks that made up the wall. Staring at these dark and dingy walls made him have an idea. The king drug himself out of bed and began to analyze the wall. "I...I...think that I can do it." he huffed. "I just need a tool. Preferably something metal...I guess that I will have to wait for dinner." The man collaspses to his knees and graps his legs firmly. There really wasn't much that he could do inside of th cell. Either he could wait for his next beating, hope that they will forget, or find a way to magically kick down the wall that stood between him and freedom. Either way, he was stuck until something happened.

Hours passed and Albert grew more nervous by the moment. It was time for him to receive his round of punishment. He wasn't so sure what it was going to be now. Whether it be more whippings or something more gruesome to face. The though of it made Albert swallow hard and shift uncomfortably. He had to keep in mind that he was doing this to keep the people of his country safe and sound. He allowed himself to be imprisoned, solely to keep his citizens alive and safe. He'd do anything for his country, even if that meant subjecting himself to seemingly endless beatings and brutality. Albert began to slowly doze off. He just couldn't keep himself awake much longer. He simply wanted to sleep. "Maybe...Just for a minute..." he said, taking a deep breath at the end. As soon as he closed his tired eyes, a loud iron-like noise came from the door. It was the warden. He was here to collect his prisoner and fork over the punishment. Albert jolted awake and jumped to his feet. "Are you alive in there?!" the warden shouted as he threw open the door. "Good. We can't have you dying before Doel nor Fruegal get their hands on you. Since the head honcho IS the one who will be dealing the last blow to that pretty little head."

The warden approached Albert and rested his hand on the King's chin. "You're almost broken...I think that if we put more efforts into this beating. We'll have you molded to our will." Albert spat on the warden before doubling over. The warden immediately became enraged, caught Albert before he made contact with the floor and with a mighty force, hit the king across the jaw. Albert lets out a loud grunt and began taking loud and heavy breaths. "Get in here, men! Take him to "the room"." The warden exited the room and the guards entered the room and quickly snatched up the King, dragging him off to another part of Hellena prison.

Albert remained quiet as the guards dragged him off. Any prisoner that was passing by simply bowed their head and whispered something to themselves. Anxiety came over Albert and he began to break out into a heavy sweat. Something within him told him to struggle to see if he could break free and escape, but another thought told him to not even think about trying to resist because it would all just be in vain. Albert looks at the two guards as he was being dragged. The one to his left looked down and gave him an evil smirk. While the other one said, "Don't look at him...you know that Fruegal wants us to make as little contact with him as possible. Let's just get this over with so he can be thrown back into his cell. Just touching him disgusts me, to be honest with you." Within a matter of minutes, Albert found himself in the torture room. The air was thick and heavy with the scent of sweat and a mixture of odors. Though, one particular odor stood out to him and that was the scent of blood. The floor was covered with it. The brown haired King was then chained up by his arms. The sandorans placed shackles around his ankles. The King's hair fell over his shoulders and exposed his back which was riddled with bruises and cuts. The two guards moved in front of him and examined him carefully.

"So what should we do?" Said the guard on the left. "Whip him? or should we take a spin on it? OR we could do something fancy." The guard that stood to the right placed a hand over his face and then responded with, "How about we just whip him again, but with this!" He held up a whip that was riddled with thorn like appendages. Albert observed the whip and couldn't help but to give a hard swallow and prepare himself. He watchedthe guards position themselves behind Albert and without warning they lashed the whip across the King's back. The fair skinned King lets out a loud scream and thoughts began to riddle his mind.

"I'm doing this for my citizens..."

"All of this is for them...and only them..."

"Lavitz...Please, be my knight in shining armor. I need you right now."

"I...don't know how much longer I can hold on before I..."

The King was rendered unconcious. He just hang there without motion. It was hard to bear the pain...It was hard to deal with wounds being reopened and new ones being created. If he were to remain concious any longer, he might be forced to wish for a quick death. Yet, did his unconciousness cause the Sandorans to stop with the lashing? Of course not. The guards continued to whip Albert until their arms were tired. This took about thirty minutes to about an hour. Once they were done, they took Albert back to his cell and dumped his lifeless body onto the dirty floor.

Outside of Hellena Prison stood Dart and his crew. Serafino had a big smirk spreading across his face. He looked over at Lavitz who was itching to break into the prison. "We have to find a way to sneak in." Dart muttered. Lavitz snorted and simply charged across the bridge. The Sandorans reacted appropriately, shouting "Intruders! Raise the bridge!" The draw bridge began to raise, but before it could fully close, it was lowered and Lavitz walked out with a smug look on his face. "C'mon." he said before returning inside. Dart rushed inside and Serafino drew his trust scythe and began strolling across the bridge, whistling a happy tune. "I'm pretty sure that they know me here." he told himself.

Serafino continued to whistle as he followed after the group. Lavitz and Dart looked back at the young man who seemed to be in a musical mood. "Serafino?" Dart questioned. The red-head stopped whistling to give Dart his full attention. "What's wrong?" Serafino responded.

"Why are you in such a good mood?"

"Hm?"

"You've been whistling this entire time."

"Oh! Well...uhm...you'll see why I am in such a great mood...right about...now."

Conviently, a group of guards sped around the corner to confront the group. Serafino made his way to the front of the group and dropped the scythe so that the blade rested on the ground. "Hello, there! Did you...aha...miss me?!" the knight questioned. The prison guards immediately turned around and ran off screaming. The red headed knight didn't allow them to get too far before chasing them down at inhuman speeds, stopping in the middle of the group to whisper, "You honestly didn't think hat you were going to get away, did you?" Serafino did something that no one could catch. He killed the guards with a quick swing of his scythe. One by one they began to drop like flies and all Lavitz could do was stand there surprised. Dart, on the other hand was very much confused. "What did you do?!" Dart questioned. Serafino lets out a heavy sigh and swings his scythe, flinging the scythe clean of any and all blood that was on it. Dart looked closely at Serafino's eyes and saw how empty and cold they were. It was a new side to the happy-go-lucky, somewhat flaky, knight. Serafino didn't say anything instead he just walked in a direction. Lavitz scratched his head and simply followed.

"Does he even know where he's going?" Haschel questioned. Lavitz turned around and responded with, "He must know. . .he's walking as if he knows something. He must have gazed into someone's eyes..."

"What's that have to do with anything?"

Haschel was skeptical.

"Let's just say that Serafino has a special ability...that can allow him to read people and find out information. Be very careful if you're trying to hide something from him. Don't let him look into your eyes."

Haschel said no more. The group followed the young knight deeper into Hellena Prison.

"What in the hell is going on?!"

"They're here?! They're here?!"

"The man with the red armor is here!? AND he brought the knight with the red hair?!"

"Lavitz is here as well! Inform Fruegal...he must know!"

Albert was still plastered to the floor that he was thrown on. He heard the commotion that was going on. What really piqued his interests was the fact that his loyal knights were there to retrieve him. The king's fingers twitched in response to the noise. He gazed at the metal door that was before him, though he could barely see it due to the great amounts of hair that covered his face. He lost the object that held his hair together. "La...vitz..." he whispered. He lets out a deep breath and continues to look at the metal door. Listening to the Sandorans bicker amongst themselves.

"Why are they here?!"

"Why are you asking that stupid question!? You know why they are here...For the Serdian King!"

"The Serdian King?! Then we should relocate him! Let's..."

Albert's hearing began to fail him as he began drifting off again. Damn it! Why couldn't he stay awake long enough to gather information. The king fell asleep where he lay, again. He didn't want to, but he was far too exhausted to fight it any longer.

Just like before, the metal door slammed open, but this time, Albert didn't wake up to see the warden standing before him. The warden stooped down and examined the king. "Hn. He's not dead...He's just sleeping." He said. The warden snapped his fingers which signaled the two guards behind him to apprehend the king and take him away. "Take His Majesty to the upper most floor of the prison. Might be best if we give him to Fruegal ahead of time...Don't just stand there like idiots! Hurry! Before his friends get here and we have a big mess on our hands." The guards rushed over and performed the necessary procedures to make sure that their prisoner was well chained up and ready to be carried away. Surprisingly, Albert didn't wake up during any of this. He was too fatigued to even bother wanting to know what was going on in his surroundings. So he failed to realize that he was being carried off to meet the one who was going to carry out his execution.

"Ummmmm...Where are we?" Serafino questioned while scratching his head.

The group had been wandering around for the past hour, not knowing where they were going. Sure, Dart and Lavtiz had visited Hellena in the past, but that didn't mean that they knew the place well and the same could be said for Shana.

Haschel and Rose gave each other a small look before returning their attention to the red headed knight. "Uhm. Guys? I need a little help here." Serafino stated in a small whiny voice. Lavitz balled up a fist and responded with, "I thought that you knew where you were going!" Serafino whirrled around and gave Lavitz a highly surprized look.

"What made you think that?!"

"Because of the way that you walked off...it seemed as if you knew where you were going!"

"What?! No...I was just going with a gut feeling that I had."

"A GUT FEELING?! I thought you used your ability to find out where His Majesty was."

Serafino paused for a moment and just gave Lavitz a blank stare.

"You know..."

"What?"

"I forgot that I could do that. Sorry!"

Lavitz placed a single hand over his face, turned around and walked off. Shana gives a slight chuckle before attempting to reassure Lavitz. "Don't worry Lavitz. We could always find another warden and have Serafino use his ability on him." She said. Lavitz stopped and took a deep breath and nodded. Rose decided to chime in on the thought before anyone decided to move and go with the plan, "Yes...we could, but we don't have much time to go around hunting for guards. The longer we spend trying to find a warden, the sooner the king could be executed. We all know that he isn't here for a nice pleasant breakfast. Not with the war going on."

Upon hearing Rose's words, Lavitz's face went from a normal expression to that of pain. She was right. Albert was mainly here for the sake of being executed. Doel was going to take all of Serdio, even if that meant killing his own relatives...especially his brother's son. Doel was indeed a man who was hungry for power. . .and he will never quit until he was dead and rotting in the ground.

"Let's go." Lavitz muttered before making his way to a nearby elevator. "We should find more guards if we go up another level." The group followed Lavitz and Serafino continued to scratch his head as he followed the rest.

"What do you mean that I can't kill him yet?! I want to splatter his tiny little head across the floor."

Fruegal was upset. He was itching to kill the unconcious king, but because of specific orders, he wasn't to lay a single finger upon the king's head until sunrise. This pissed the vulgar man off more and more. For him, the sight of King Albert made him more and more angry. "Anyways, why is he asleep?! What did you do to him?! This isn't a building for lavish treatment, this is-" He looked at the king closer and noticed how badly damaged his body was. "Oh hooooooo~ I see!" Fruegal chimed. " He's tired from the constant beatings. You really did a number on him. I see why he's not awake at the moment." The warden moved a little closer to Fruegal and asked, "Would you like for me to wake him, sir?" The obese man began to laugh loudly. "Of course not! I want him to be fully awake later. I would hate for him to not fully experience every last moment of his execution, because this little killing isn't going to be quick and painless. It's all going to be slow and painful." The warden continued to look at the sleeping king.

A guard rushed into the area, exhausted from the constant running, trying to reach the head warden. "Fruegal! Sir!" he said taking deep breaths between each word. "The man in the red armor and the knights are here!" Fruegal whirrled around to take a good look at the messenger. "Knights?! I thought there was only one." The messenger shook his head and then continued with. "No...Lavitz and the knight with the scythe! I've gotten wind that they got past Jiango and now they're making they're way up here! They're deter-" Fruegal was enraged, without a second thought he grabbed the man who was informing him and tossed him through the window, leaving him to fall to his death. "Why isn't anyone stopping them?! What happened to all of the guards? And how are they being allowed to make it up THIS far?! " Fruegal turned around to try and find the warden that stood next to him this entire time, but he was gone, far away. He wanted to make sure that he was far out of Fruegal's grasp.

"Dammit!" Fruegal said as he launched his fist into a nearby wall. "I can't allow them to get their hands on the king." He readied his club and raised it far above his head. "I'm not going to allow these people to come between Doel and his plans. This cannot happen." He then tightened his grip on his weapon and swung downward.

"What do you think you're doing?" A familiar voice sounded.

Fruegal's weapon stopped within an inch of Albert's head. It was the man in black. The man who gave Fruegal the orders as to what to do and what not to do. Anything that Emperor Doel wanted Fruegal to do, the man in black relayed it to Fruegal. "What did I tell you?!" he questioned

"I've been waiting here for the past two hours! I'm ready to get this over with! That red armored man and the knights are on their way here." Fruegal argued. The hooded man began to walk away slowly.

"Do as I say...do NOT kill him...As a matter of fact, it would probably be even better if you allowed them to come to you. If you get rid of the obstacle, then you will have nothing between you and killing the king. Do you understand?"

"I do, but..."

"Just wait. . ."

The hooded man then continues to walk off, disappearing into the darkness. Fruegal watched the man disappear and then turned his attention to the king, who happened to still be resting where he lay. He stooped down and took a fist full of Albert's golden brown hair and lifted his head up to eye level. "You're causing me a lot of trouble...I might not be able to kill you but I can sure as hell beat you into the ground. You stupid little insect!" The obese man pulled his arm back and prepared to deal a brutal blow to Albert's head, but just as his arm was pulled into the position, an arrow was fired into his arm.

Fruegal shouted in pain, dropping Albert onto the floor. This, in turn, caused the king to wake up and begin to scan his surroundings. Even though he was still drowsy, he was able to make out what was going on. "King Albert!" shouted Lavitz. Albert quickly turned his head to the right to find Dart, Lavitz, Serafino as well as Rose, Shana, and Haschel gathered near the entrance. They were ready to fight Fruegal. They were all prepared and armed well.

Lavitz analyzed the king from afar and could tell that he had been through hell and back during the time he was captured all of the way to the time that they arrived. Albert was dirty, beaten, cut, bruised, bleeding, and red. Seeing these things angered the green clad knight. "What have you done to him?!" he shouted. Fruegal laughed and gave a small shrug. "In technicality," he stated. "I didn't do anything. I didn't lay a single hand on him. It was my guards. If you want to go after someone for abusing your king, i recommend that you find the guards that are responsible."

Lavitz drew his weapon and waved it around a little. "Now's not the time for games, Fruegal! Hand over the king, now." The round man chuckled and snapped his fingers. Two beasts arrived next to the person that summoned them. "I'm not handing him over to you that easily...You're going to have to take your king back by force. I can assure you that you will not win." Serafino revealed his weapon and chuckled. "Finally! some real action!" he said. He got into position and prepared for an attack. "Come on! Let's go! Let's go!" The red head was excited to be able to fight.

All Albert could do was watch and hope that his friends come out on top in this fight. He felt helpless and distressed. The king couldn't fall asleep knowing that this fight was about to take place. He'll just have to fight his body's desire to sleep for the time being. This was far too important to pass up.

'Please...let there be no casualties. I would hate to see someone dear to me perish in this battle. Something tells me that his battle won't go as well as expected...Why do I have such an uneasy gut feeling.'